194 THRILLING ADVENTURES. 



less ungainly, it is readily distinguishable at a greater dis- 

 tance by its black mane and tail, more elevated withers, and 

 clumsier action. 



" We were preparing to leave Chooi, when a party of Gri- 

 quas arrived with three wagons. They had been hunting 

 giraffe on the Molopo, and having expended their ammuni- 

 tion, were returning to Daniel's Kuil with the spoils. Their 

 horses and oxen were perfect skeletons, and their wagons 

 literally tumbling to pieces. Tireless wheels were lashed to- 

 gether with strips of raw hide, and festoons of dried meat 

 termed "Biltong," occupied the place of the awning ; whilst 

 a number of filthy women and children were stowed away 

 with an odoriferous melange of garbage and fat. These 

 people had approached to the western limit of Moselekatse's 

 territory without molestation, a circumstance which seemed 

 to inspire our timid followers with confidence. Large par- 

 ties are annually formed for the purpose of hunting the came- 

 leopard and eland the flesh of these animals being held in 

 great estimation, and their skins applied to the manufacture 

 of shoes and a variety of other uses. We would gladly have 

 purchased some of the miserable horses, but the owners de- 

 clined receiving any thing in exchange but gunpowder, which 

 we could not have given without incurring the risk of twelve 

 months' imprisonment on our return to the Colony, although 

 a single pound would have given us the choice of the stud. 



" After crossing the Saltpan, we passed a long line of pit- 

 falls used for entrapping game. Upwards of sixty of these 

 were dug close together in a treble line ; a high thorn fence 

 extending in the form of a crescent a mile on either side, in 

 such a manner that gnoos, quaggas, and other animals may 

 easily be driven into them. They are carefully concealed 

 with grass, and their circumscribed dimensions render escape 

 almost impossible. Heaps of whitened bones bore ample 

 testimony to the destruction they had occasioned. 



i We now entered upon the Chooi Desert, an extensive 



